40 Under 40

Lois Scott

Steven R. Strahler

Yet politically unconnected Lois Scott beat more than 30 underwriters to a trailblazing assignment last year from the Chicago Public Schools.

She and her BancAmerica team figured out how to raise $350 million (part of a billion-dollar upgrade of school facilities) with bond market financing that won the schools' first unanimous investment-grade ratings in two decades -- and Dea l of the Year honors from two national publications.

Concedes a candid David Agazzi, then the schools' budget director: "We did not know what we were doing until they got on board."

Outside her demanding day job is a string of volunteer commitments, ranging from preparing tax returns for low-income filers to researching financial options for a regional high-speed rail system.

Having begun her career in 1983 as a newly minted Cornell University MBA at First Chicago Corp., the Upstate New York native spent 10 years in the Chicago offices of two Wall Street investment banks. Their retreat from municipal finance f acilitated her move to BancAmerica in 1995.

Says William Goodyear, chairman of affiliate Bank of America Illinois, of Ms. Scott's abilities: "In a five-year plan, we're three years ahead of schedule."

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